Roasted Pears with Banana Soft Serve-A Truly Healthy Dessert

Very interesting discussion going on in my last post about giving unsolicited nutritional advice to our friends and family that are suffering from food born illnesses. The consensus is: don't do it. Better to have them come to us than risk that our concern be taken the wrong way or push people away. Lead by example, but it's easier said than done!

Here's an example of a plant strong dessert that probably will leave them asking for more healthy options. It's really an idea, not so much a recipe, because it's that simple. Thank you to Lindsay Bruner, the Whole Foods Healthy Eating Specialist from Kentucky, who suggested serving the roasted pears with banana soft serve.

(1) Roast pears at 400 degrees. I recommend spraying the bottom of your cookie sheet with canola oil spray and also lightly dusting the tops of the pears with spray too. You can season the pears with cinnamon, but you don't have to.

(2) Keep an eye on the pears and when they look carmelized and soft, they're done. About 40 minutes.

(3) Serve as is, or with frozen banana soft serve. Place chunks of frozen bananas along with a splash of alternative milk of your choice in a high powered blender or food processor and blend, scraping down sides and tamping mixture down as necessary, until mixture resembles soft serve ice cream. Serve immediately.

before roasting

after roasting

Wow even your biggest skeptics.

Dessert doesn't get any simpler than this.

Enjoy!

Are You More Excited About This? Or This?

I was having some fun fooling around with new food photography props that my friend and I had purchased yesterday and I posted the results of my shoot on Facebook:

And this photo got quite an interestingly positive response.

Contrast that with this photo:

which got a relatively dull response on facebook.

And it got me thinking, why do we get all excited about dessert pictures when we really should be getting jazzed up about photographs of nutritious food? I mean, if the world really does operate on survival of the fittest, than one would think we would have evolved to prefer looking at photos of food that would ensure our survival, not compromise it?

I'm no psychologist, although I play one on TV (does anyone remember that "doctor" commercial from the 70s?). I'm just a regular blogger who desperately wants to get her readers excited about what she posts, so in the interests of my lower self, here's how I made the gorgeous black and white parfaits.

Printable Recipe

HGK's Holier Than Thou Brownies
Perfectly delicious, whether or not you make the parfaits!

2 cups spelt flour
1 cup organic cocoa powder
1 � tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
� cup pure pumpkin
� cup applesauce
� cup strong brewed coffee
� cup almond milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (dairy, nut & soy free)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and pinch of salt into a bowl. Stir to combine.

Whisk maple syrup, pumpkin, applesauce, coffee, almond milk and vanilla into another bowl. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and add chocolate chips. Pour into a  9� X 13� pan that has been lightly sprayed with cooking oil spray.

Bake for 30 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Chef Aj's Pear Creme Anglaise
1 28 ounce jar of canned pears in their own juice, drained
1/3 cup raw cashews
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tbsp vanilla

Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend well, scraping down sides as necessary.

Shoot 'Em Up Parfaits
inspired by a trip to Seasons 52 Restaurant

Prepare brownies and let cool. Prepare Pear Creme Anglaise.

Into tall shot glasses, layer crumbled pieces of brownie alternating with Pear Creme Anglaise.

Garnish with berries and mint leaves. Refrigerate until serving time.

I think he likes it.

Do you prefer to read postings and see pictures of vegan desserts more than pictures and postings of savory food? Why? Does viewing dessert wear down your resistance muscle and build up your giving in muscle? What are your thoughts and feelings on this phenomenon?

Plant-strong Pot Luck-The Dessert

It's been four days since my Plant-strong Pot Luck took place and I can hardly stop thinking about it. You, on the other hand, might be sick of hearing about it!

So I want to interrupt this post to bring you a link to something I believe everyone will love, an article on 5 Ways the Nutrition Field Hinders its Own Progress by Andy Bellatti. The article was right up my alley, so I'm pretty sure it will speak to you too. It pointed out some very interesting things that I have never considered when it comes to food and health. Check it out and let me know what you think!

And now for the light and fluffy part of the blog post: the dessert. Quite a challenge, really, making dessert for a strict Plant-strong crowd. I'm going to be totally honest with you here. I know that there is a perception out there that I am some kind of a saint, but that is wrong. When it comes to dessert, I make all kinds of compromises. I'm not always proud of that, but it's the truth. Do I wish I could be "better?" Yes.

But for this pot luck, I had to stick as closely as possible to truly Plant-strong desserts. I was very inspired by these videos with Chef Aj and Julieanna Hever preparing Pear Creme Anglaise and Balsamic Strawberries. I knew I had to give that a try. But I also felt like the crowd would need something chocolately, so I got out Chef Aj's Unprocessed (you can purchase it on http://www.eatunprocessed.com/) and browsed through all of her Vegan Truffle recipes. I settled on one called Heluva Halavah Balls (named because they have a lot of sesame seeds in them).

I altered the recipe some, adding more date syrup and then rolling them in a semi defatted coconut flake. The truffles were not very sweet, but they were nice and chocolately, and people seemed to really like them. I think I'm going to have to give Vegan Truffles a few more tries before I settle on a recipe that I would consider a favorite. Anyone have any ideas?

The Balsamic Strawberries with Pear Creme Anglaise were outstanding. I think it was the Pear Creme Anglaise that really did it for me though. I'm not sure if the strawberries even needed any special treatment, but it certainly didn't hurt things any.

I could eat Chef Aj's Pear Creme Anglaise any day and for any reason. It's genius.

I like white, fluffy, creamy, sweet things. Since I've given up Twinkies, I haven't exactly had my fix lately. With a nominal amount of pantry ingredients (canned pears in their own juice, vanilla, cashews and xanthan gun), it's the perfect last minute dessert to make for yourself or a party. It could be served over any fruit or even alone.

I served it in large bowls at the pot luck, but if you have the time before a party, layering the strawberries and cream into beautiful individual parfaits would certainly impress any guest.

I also made Watermelon Frosty's after being inspired by this video on YouTube. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to take pictures of it. I was preparing them as my guests were watching T. Colin Campbell on Bill Mahar. I think I was probably pretty annoying, running the VitaMix as they were trying to hear Professor Campbell! But it was all in good fun.

So that's it for this Plant-strong Pot Luck's details. If only I had another one to look forward to . . .